Automation Skill Builder

Sound familiar?

Generative AI changed how people imagine work—but production still runs on scripts, APIs, desktops, compliance, and humans who need traceability and repeatability.

AI that can’t do anything by itself

AI chat is great for ideas, but it can’t open your files, click through your apps, or do the actual work. That gap is where hours disappear.

Too many tools, not enough glue

Your work lives across a dozen apps. Getting them to talk to each other means writing scripts no one else understands — and maintaining them forever.

From idea to working automation, fast

You know what needs automating. You shouldn’t need a consultant or a dev sprint to get there.

Your data stays on your machine

Automation shouldn't mean sending sensitive files through someone else's cloud. Everything runs locally, so you stay in control of what goes where.

Why this product was built

Automation Skill Builder exists to shorten the path from “we need to automate this” to “we have a documented, invokable capability”—without forcing a single vendor narrative.

Go from idea to working automation without losing your train of thought — capture, edit, and run everything in one place.
Works with the tools you already use — desktops, browsers, files, and web services, not just the shiny new stack.
Build it once, share it with your team — package automations as skills that anyone can run, no setup required.
No terminal required for daily use — everything lives in a clean browser interface you already know how to use.

Plain language: we built a practical control room for automation and skill packaging—not another generic “AI platform” slide deck.

Version 0.9.0 · Windows installer (.exe), macOS disk image (.dmg), or ZIP archives

Other downloads (ZIP)

Open full manual

One more thing — extensions

If you want to work more deeply with your existing AI tools and desktop workflows, we offer optional extensions for flexible access. The Automation Skill Builder application must still be running locally (often in the background); extensions only embed the web UI—point them at the same URL you use in a browser.

VS Code–compatible editors

Install from the Visual Studio Marketplace (recommended) or a downloaded .vsix in editors that support the VS Code extension format, including Visual Studio Code, Cursor, Google Antigravity, and similar hosts.

Visual Studio Marketplace Download VSIX (0.1.2)

From the Marketplace: Open the listing, click Install, then in settings search for Automation Skill Builder and set automationSkillBuilder.baseUrl to your running service (for example http://127.0.0.1:8800/).
From a VSIX: Open Extensions → ⋯ → Install from VSIX…, choose the file, then set automationSkillBuilder.baseUrl the same way.

Chrome & Edge (side panel)

The same side-panel package works in Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge (Chromium). Download the ZIP, extract it, then load the folder as an unpacked extension.

Download Chrome extension (ZIP)

Unzip so the folder contains manifest.json. Open chrome://extensions or edge://extensions, turn on Developer mode, click Load unpacked, and select that folder. In the side panel, set host/port to match your running app (defaults align with 127.0.0.1:8800).

Reminder: Extensions do not start the backend. Keep Automation Skill Builder running on your machine and use the same address and port in the extension as in your browser so the embedded UI can load.

Subscription license

Use the same email and machine ID as at checkout. New customers start payment below; existing subscribers with an active plan can refresh license.json.

Simple, honest pricing

Start free — no credit card needed. Every account gets 1,000 calls per month at no cost, resetting on the 1st of each month (your local time). When you're ready to do more, upgrade any time.

Not sure which plan fits? Most individuals start with Free or Starter. Teams that run automations daily tend to find Pro the right fit.

Plans and prices (USD)

Prices are in U.S. dollars before tax.

Plan	Included calls	Price
Free	1,000 / month	$0
Starter	5,000 / month	$9 / month
Pro	20,000 / month	$29 / month
Growth	100,000 / month	$99 / month
Add-on	+1,000 (one-time)	$2 one-time

In the desktop app, open the local UI (often http://127.0.0.1:8800) and copy machine ID from Settings. It must match the PC where you will use the license.

Email (receive license) Machine ID

Plan (Creem checkout)

Choose a subscription tier or a one-time call pack. Prices are charged in Creem. Click a row in the price table above or pick a radio below—your choice is sent when you continue to payment.

Starter — 5,000 calls / month Pro — 20,000 calls / month Growth — 100,000 calls / month Add-on — +1,000 calls (one-time pack)

First-time checkout

After payment, use the success page in the same browser to claim your license.

If you already have an active subscription on this machine, cancel it at period end first, then create a new subscription checkout. One-time add-on packs are non-refundable.

By paying you agree to our Terms of service, Privacy policy, and Refund policy.

Already subscribed?

If your subscription is still active, download a fresh signed license.json for this email and machine ID.

Questions & answers

Short answers; the manual remains authoritative for operational detail.

What are the system requirements?

Is this a hosted SaaS?

No. It is designed primarily as a self-hosted application you run on your infrastructure or workstation. You control networking, TLS, and who can reach the service.

Do I need MCP or Claude community skills?

No. Core features work over the web UI and HTTP API. MCP and integration with the rich skill ecosystem on the Claude community are optional when you want assistants or a skill runtime to consume packaged capabilities. We fully support that path: follow the user manual to install the skills you prefer, use the product’s built-in security checks to validate them, and execute with confidence.

Will this replace my team?

No — it amplifies what your team can do. Think of it as a capable assistant that drafts and suggests; your team reviews, decides, and owns the outcome.

What about data privacy?

Sensitive data flows depend on your configuration: local execution, which models you call, and which external services you enable. Run data-protection assessments before processing regulated data. With this product’s design, interactions are auditable and can be reviewed in a visual way—helping security teams verify behavior instead of working blind.

Why local-first?

Many automation tasks touch the desktop, filesystem, or internal APIs. Keeping execution close to the environment reduces latency and can simplify compliance—at the cost of you maintaining the runtime.

Will VS Code, Chrome, or Office integrations be available?

Yes—see the Visual Studio Marketplace listing or download a VSIX. The Automation Skill Builder app must still run locally; extensions only embed the UI. A Microsoft Office add-in remains under evaluation.

What if OCR or vision is slow the first time?

Vision stacks often download models on first use. Expect a longer cold start; subsequent runs are typically faster. See the manual for warmup and skip flags.

How do I get help?

Community users can ask questions in the public forum — response times vary. If your team needs reliable support with a guaranteed response, check out our professional plan.

Do I need Python or Node.js installed?

See the user manual for OS support and optional Python / Node.js prerequisites.

Support model

Two lanes—so expectations stay clear whether you are evaluating, self-hosting, or running under a commercial agreement.

Community & as-is use

The software may be used and inspected according to its license and repository terms. Documentation, issues, and community discussion (where offered) are provided without warranty.

Community support is best-effort — driven by fellow users and the maintainer when possible. It’s ideal for exploring, learning, and running personal or internal projects. For teams that need faster answers or hands-on help, professional support is available separately.

Professional support

For organizations that need onboarding, priority help, custom integrations, security review assistance, or deployment hardening, commercial support may be available from the maintainer or partners.

Scope, channels, and SLAs are defined in a separate agreement—not on this marketing page. Contact your vendor or project owner for entitlement and pricing.

Contact

Billing and subscriptions: info@visualbuild.me

Technical and product issues: dev@visualbuild.me

Build AI-driven automation skills

AI can think, but can't operate your apps

Traditional RPA is powerful, but brittle

ASB is simpler, smarter, reusable

Core capabilities

Desktop automation

Browser automation

API calls

OCR & vision

MCP tool surface

Skill packaging

Local execution

Workflow orchestration

Enterprise-grade trust · local-first

Typical application scenarios

Excel automation

SAP data updates

Invoice OCR

Web scraping

Email processing

RPA replay